This invention relates generally to product display hooks and more particularly concerns display hooks used to hang specialty items in front of shelves stocked with other products.
The average consumer is very familiar with the hooks mounted on the front face of grocery and drugstore shelves for the display of lightweight specialty items from pens to potholders, from gadgets to widgets. This sales method has been found by marketing people to be very effective, but only when the hooks are kept properly stocked with product.
On the other hand, these devices are generally a source of frustration and consternation for stockboys who, in order to keep the shelves stocked, must first confront the product hanging on the hooks. Holding the dangling, swinging widgets out of the way with one hand, the stockboy restocks the shelf, often one box at a time, with the other. Usually, some of the widgets fall off the hooks and need to be rehung. The eventual responses of even the most conscientious stockboys are not unpredictable. Some simply refuse to restock the hooks, thus keeping access to the shelves clear. This response is effective until the store manager discovers that sales on hook displayed products are not up to expectations. Management's subsequent instruction that the hooks be properly stocked generally leads to discovery of the second response. At this juncture, management frequently finds that the hooks themselves are disappearing, usually to be later found behind the shelf stock where the hooks used to be. Or, when instructions are followed and hooks properly stocked, bringing shelf-stocking frustration to a peak, broken hooks and widgets will eventually both be found behind the shelf products, proof that even the best of us can sometimes be pushed just too far.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a display hook that facilitates the effective display of front-of-shelf products. At the same time, it is an essential object of this invention to minimize the obstruction of access to the shelf by the displayed product. Similarly, it is an object of this invention to facilitate restocking of shelf products behind front-of-shelf products. It is a further object of this invention to provide a product display hook rotatable to shift product from a vertical to a horizontal position to provide ready access to shelf space. Yet another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable display hook that can quickly be switched from a display position to a stock position in a simple one-handed operation.